Northampton have decided not to appeal against Chris Ashton's four-week ban. The England wing was suspended for unsportsmanlike conduct after being found guilty of dragging Leicester's Alesana Tuilagi off the field by his hair at Welford Road last Saturday.

The incident, which occurred in the first half of Leicester's 30-25 Aviva Premiership victory, sparked a touchline brawl and led to Tuilagi and the Northampton forward Tom Wood being sent off.

A club statement said: "Following considerable deliberation, the Northampton Saints team management has decided not to appeal against the sanction imposed upon Chris Ashton earlier this week.

"Although the management still believes the sanction was harsh, and imposed because of what happened afterwards rather than the action offence itself – something Judge Jeff Blackett noted in his own comments on Tuesday evening – the management also believes that it is best that a line is now drawn under the incident.

"Chris himself is determined to use this as a learning experience and to work hard over the next four weeks to become a better player for Northampton Saints and hopefully earn selection in England's Six Nations squad in the new year."

Ashton will miss Northampton's back-to-back Heineken Cup fixtures against Castres, the Christmas Eve Premiership match against Bath and a New Year's Day trip to Newcastle. The England wing will be available in time for a Premiership game against Harlequins on 6 January.

With no specific provision for hair-pulling in the disciplinary code, the three-man panel, chaired by Blackett, equated the offence with spitting. Ashton denied the charge and the panel accepted that the incident had "started by accident" but Blackett said: "It became clear that at some stage Chris Ashton knew what he was doing.

"If you pull somebody by the hair there is an element of denigration and this act was a catalyst for a mass brawl that resulted in two red cards and significantly affected the image of the game."

Ashton was also ordered to pay £500 in costs.

Tuilagi and Wood received no further punishment. Leicester's Geordan Murphy and Horacio Agulla and the Northampton lock Courtney Lawes were issued with retrospective yellow cards for their role in the mass brawl.